Beginners Guide to Your Lurcher by Dani Greenwood

Dani has kindly given us permission to share this article she’s written about Lurchers for new / prospective owners :

Beginner’s guide to your lurcher:

We often hear how sighthounds aren’t biddable but many factors play into this:

The make up of your lurcher. Heavy collie types do tend to be more on the biddable side.

Knowing what makes up your lurcher can help in some ways to help predict some traits but it’s not end of world not knowing what makes up your lurcher.

A sighthound will ask why. They have to see a point in what they are doing and this is where some struggle. Collies and gundogs are bred to work alongside man and be given directions the sighthound, while bred to work with helping man, a lot is done on their own with very little instruction from us. This is why sighthounds can be quite independent at times.

We can flip that on its head and make them see us as useful and part of what they doing.

You can’t expect more from your sighthound than you’re willing to put in yourself. If you want engagement you will need to put the effort in.

You want food drive and toy drive it requires some work on your side.

Repetition is not for a sighthound. Keep it short and sweet or you will have a dog that finds you a nag or a bore.

You can’t take the prey drive out of them but you can do things to use to your advantage so it taps into their prey drive side.

They need to run for their mental health. Just like collies genetically stalk and cockers genetically flush, the sighthound has been bred to run. It doesn’t mean every day you need to run them off lead if they have shaky recall but at least once a week give them the chance somewhere safe to run. They run for joy and it’s a beautiful sight to watch them run.

They differ from other breeds in when your Labrador is considering running after something, the sighthound is already there.

They are bred to make quick snap decisions on their own and have the speed to back this up. Any sighthound owner needs to keep this in mind.

Play - they can play rough and not all breeds enjoy sighthound play. Sighthounds know they are fast so sometimes enjoy buzzing other dogs which is running at a dog nipping or nearly nipping them and running off. Dogs can find this intimidating and it’s not behaviour I allow. Rough bitey play isn’t for all dogs and again I respect the other dog.

Arousal I find can be an issue at times. Sighthounds can struggle to regulate their arousal especially if never taught early on how to cope with impulse control or mild frustration.

They are sensitive. They come across as not but they truly are and it’s why reward based works well with them.

Once you understand a sighthound they will follow you to the ends of the earth and one of the best dogs you can have.

They are special and worth the effort.

by Dani Greenwood

Sighthound & lurcher training Dani Greenwood 

https://www.facebook.com/lurcherdogs